Maker (MKR): Project Review, Recent Developments, Future Events, Community

• Maker (MKR) is the governance token of MakerDAO’s Dai and the Maker Protocol, both built on the Ethereum chain.

• To diversify Maker’s balance sheet, MakerDAO has announced it will be investing $500 million in U.S. Treasurys and corporate bonds.

• Maker could see significant changes in the coming months as founder, Rune Christensen, has proposed changes to improve its decentralization.

• MKR has risen by more than 70% in the last 30 days while other cryptos declined or traded sideways.

Project Review

Maker (MKR) is the governance token of the Maker Decentralized Autonomous Organization (MakerDAO) and the Maker Protocol — both based on the Ethereum blockchain — that allows users to issue and manage the DAI stablecoin.

Maker Protocol uses Maker Vaults for users to deposit their crypto as collateral and mint Dai against it. These users with Vaults can repay their Dai loan and redeem their collateral.

A community of MKR token holders governs the Maker Protocol, the smart contracts that power Dai. The global Maker community is now responsible for every aspect of the Maker Protocol and the DAO including adjusting policies, choosing new collateral types, and improving the governance of the project.

Social Media: Website | Twitter | GitHub | Chat | YouTube | Telegram | Forum

Recent Developments

To fix the dwindling revenue of Maker, the DAO announced that it has allocated $500 million for investing in U.S. Treasurys and corporate bonds. According to MakerDAO, the move will help diversify Maker’s balance sheet and make the backing of its DAI stablecoin more stable.

As per the announcement, MakerDAO revealed that Sygnum, the world’s first digital asset bank, would be the lead partner in the firm’s $500 million treasury diversification into traditional assets. 

Maker holders are currently voting on an executive proposal using the MKR. If the proposal passes, the Maker protocol will increase the Maximum Debt Ceiling (line) from 60 million DAI to 500 million DAI.

The proposal also seeks to increase the Target Available Debt (gap) from 10 million DAI to 50 million DAI. If the proposal does not pass within 30 days, then it will expire and can no longer have any effect on the Maker Protocol.

Price Updates

Since bouncing at the support line of the descending wedge (a bullish pattern) in September, the price of Maker (MKR) has been rising. 

While most cryptos have either traded sideways or experienced declines, MKR has gained more than 70% in the last 30 days, the third most significant of the top 100 cryptos ranked by market cap.

The 30-day price chart for Maker (MKR). Source: CoinMarketCap

The rally has seen Maker’s price rise from $616 to as high as $1,145. After a brief correction, MKR now trades at $1,060. Maker is ranked as the 49th largest crypto with a market cap of $1.01 billion.

With the RSI finally moving above 50, MKR could break out from its bearish divergence trendline and target highs at $1,900.

Future Events

The Maker ecosystem is currently in the process of undergoing a restructuring. The founder of MakerDAO, Rune Christensen, put forward a proposal to split the decentralized finance protocols into smaller units to make Maker more decentralized and censorship-resistant.

Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has declined Christensen’s “Endgame” manifesto, instead proposing that changes be made without impeding growth and comply with the current legal and regulatory environment.

Although the proposals are still in their early stages, with no official timeline, one can expect significant changes to the Maker protocol in the coming week/months.

On the Flipside

• Christensen recently rattled the crypto community after suggesting the protocol’s stablecoin, DAI, might drop its peg to the U.S. dollar.

• According to Christensen, DAI will ultimately lose its dollar peg, but he prefers that it be done with huge amounts of preparation.

Community

As one of the biggest and most important decentralized finance protocols, Maker has one of the largest and most active communities in the crypto space. The Maker community is governed by voting power given to members.

Community members are very bullish about the future of MKR. Felix Hartmann explained his thesis for Maker:

Agreeing with Hartmann, @granitacademy wrote:

Chris Blec has explained the full details of Rune Christensen’s proposal on Twitter:

Why You Should Care

Maker is an important piece not only for the Maker Protocol, but the entire DeFi sector thanks to the role it plays in the project. Playing a central role in the remarkable growth of the DeFi sector enhances the prospects of Maker as the DeFi sector grows.